What is the rake in PokerStars?

Author

Vargoso

Published

1/3/2023

Updated

1/27/2023

In this article, we will figure out how much rake Pokerstars charges, how it is calculated and distributed, and how the Pokerstars rake differs from other poker rooms.

How is the rake calculated at Pokerstars?

PokerStars has two rules when collecting the rake at cash tables:

No flop, no drop policy - the fee is taken only from the pots reaching the flop.
Weight contributed - the amount of rake taken from a player is proportional to their share in the pot.

The share of the pot going to the room is expressed as a percentage, but the total amount of rake taken from the pot is also limited by 'caps.' These indicate the maximum amount of commission that can be taken at a particular limit.

For example, at a 5% rake at an NL100$ table, the PokerStars players will pay $2.5 from a pot of $200 instead of $10 because this is the rake cap set by the rules for this stake.

Pokerstars rake structure: No-limit Holdem and Omaha

At no-limit Hold'em tables:

Limits	rake	cap / 2 players	cap / 3-4 players	cap / 5+ players
$0.01/$0.02	3.50%	$0.30	$0.30	$0.30
$0.02/$0.05	4.15%	$0.50	$0.50	$1.00
$0.05/$0.10 - $0.08/$0.16	4.50%	$0.50	$1.00	$1.50
$0.10/$0.25	4.50%	$0.50	$1.00	$2.00
$0.25/$0.50	5.00%	$0.75	$0.75	$2.00
$0.50/$1	5.00%	$1.00	$1.00	$2.50
$1/$2	5.0%	$1.25	$1.25	$2.75
$2/$4	5.0%	$1.50	$1.50	$3.00
$2.50/$5	5.0%	$1.50	$1.50	$3.00
$3/$6	5.0%	$1.50	$1.50	$3.50
$5/$10	4.5%	$1.50	$1.50	$3.00

In Omaha, the rake is different only at low stakes:

Limits	rake	cap / 2 players	cap / 3-4 players	cap / 5+ players
$0.01/$0.02	3.30%	$0.30	$0.30	$0.30
$0.02/$0.05	3.90%	$0.50	$0.50	$1.00
$0.05/$0.10	4.25%	$0.50	$1.00	$1.50
$0.10/$0.25	4.25%	$0.50	$1.00	$2.00

PokerStars zoom rake

Zoom stakes	rake	cap / 5+ players
$0.01/$0.02	3.50%	$0.30
$0.02/$0.05	4.15%	$1.00
$0.05/$0.10 - $0.08/$0.16	4.50%	$1.50
$0.10/$0.25	4.50%	$2.00
$0.25/$0.50	5.00%	$2.00
$0.50/$1	5.00%	$2.50
$1/$2	5.0%	$2.75
$2/$4	5.0%	$3.00
$2.50/$5	5.0%	$3.00
$3/$6	5.0%	$3.50
$5/$10	4.5%	$3.00

Short deck poker rake

Ante	rake	cap / 2 players	cap / 3-4 players	cap / 5+ players
$0,02	3,50%	$0,30	$0,30	$0,30
$0,05	4,15%	$0,50	$0,50	$1
$0,10	4,50%	$0,50	$1	$1,50
$0,25	5,00%	$0,50	$1	$2
$0,50	5,00%	$1	$1	$2,50
$1	5,00%	$1,25	$1,25	$2,75
$2	5,00%	$1,50	$1,50	$3,50
$5,00	5,00%	$2	$2	$4,50
$10	4,50%	$2,50	$2,50	$4,50

Fixed Limit rake

Limits	rake	cap / 2 players	cap / 3-4 players	cap / 5+ players
$0.02/$0.04	4.5%	$0.01	$0.01	$0.01
$0.04/$0.08-$0.05/$0.10	4.5%	$0.04	$0.04	$0.04
$0.10/$0.25	4.5%	$0.10	$0.10	$0.10
$0.25/$0.50	4.5%	$0.16	$0.16	$0.16
$0.50/$1	4.5%	$0.40	$0.40	$0.40
$1/$2	2.0%-4.0%	$0.50	$0.70	$0.80
$2/$4	2.0%-3.0%	$0.50	$0.70	$1.25
$3/$6-$5/$10	2.0%-3.0%	$0.50	$2.00	$3.00

SpinGo and Tournaments rake

In MTT tournaments, a commission is taken from the buy-ins and may vary depending on the speed of blind growth. Usually, it is not more than 10%.

The rake in Spin & Go lottery games at PokerStars varies depending on the limit:

8% – $0,25-$5
7% – $10.
6% – $25-$50.
5% – $100-$1,000.

Comparison with other online poker sites

Let's compare it to other major online poker rooms to understand how small the rake is in PokerStars.

Stakes	PokerStars		GGpoker**		iPoker		PokerKing		Tigergaming		888poker		Coin Poker
	rake	cap	rake	cap*	rake	cap	rake	cap	rake	cap	rake	cap	rake	cap
NL5$	4.15%	$1.00	5.00%	$0.50	6.67%	€0.5	5.00%	$3.00	5.50%	$3	5.00%	$4	4.00%	$0.30
NL10$	4.50%	$1.50	5.00%	$1	6.67%	€2	5.00%	$3.00	5.50%	$3	5.00%	$4	4.00%	$0.50
NL20-25$	4.50%	$2.00	5.00%	$2	5.00%	€2	5.00%	$3.00	5.50%	$3	5.00%	$4	4.00%	$1
NL50$	5.00%	$2.00	5.00%	$4	5.00%	€3	5.00%	$3.00	5.50%	$3	5.00%	$4	4.00%	$2
NL100$	5.00%	$2.50	5.00%	$5	5.00%	€4	5.00%	$3.00	5.50%	$4	5.00%	$4	4.00%	$2,5
NL200$-250$	5.00%	$2.75	5.00%	$6	5.00%	€4	5.00%	$3.00	5.50%	$4	5.00%	$4	4.00%	$3
NL400-600$	5.00%	$3.00-$3.50	5.00%	$8	5.00%	€4	5.00%	$3.00	5.50%	$5	5.00%	$4	4.00%	$3
NL1K$	4.5%	$3.00	5.00%	$10	5.00%	€4	5.00%	$3.00	5.50%	$5	5.00%	$5	4.00%	$5

*At tables with 5 or more players.

**Rake is taken preflop from pots from 2.5BB.

Is the Pokerstars rake the lowest?

Up to the NL25$, PokerStars takes a lower percentage of rake compared to other rooms; at higher stakes, this figure is comparable, but in terms of rake caps, PS remains the leader.

Only cryptocurrency poker sites (for example, Coinpoker) charge less commission, but they are far behind the top poker sites in terms of traffic. Also, we need to consider what rakeback players can get at the same stake in different rooms.